Envelop-vending machine



C. W. KEENUM.

ENVELOP VENDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.1.6,1919.

C. W. KEENUM.

ENVELOP VENDING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED DEC-16,1919.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHE ET 2.

Elwucmtw W UNITED STATES I CHARLES W. KEENUIVI, OF TUCSON, ARIZONA.

ENVELOP-VENDING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed December 16, 1919. Serial No. 345,206.

To all w from it may concern Be it known that I, CHAnLns W. KEENUM, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Tucson, in the county of Pima and State of Arizona, have invented new and useful Improvements in Envelop-Vendirig Machines, of which the following is a specification. I

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive apparatus where by envelops either stamped or plain may be readily dispensed or vended either separately or in groups, and incidentally to provide an apparatus for this purpose which will occupy the minimum space as compared with its capacity, and which may be arranged conveniently and comparatively inconspicuously in public places suchv as drug stores, waiting rooms, post oiiices and the like, and which may be relied upon to furnish the vendee with the number of envelops either stamped or plain, corresponding with the coin inserted, without requiring the attention of a vendor other than to refill the magazine from time to time as may be required.

.With these and related objects in view the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front View of the apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a side view.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section showing the operating mechanism.

Fig. l is a transverse section on the plane indicated by the line 4.4: of Fig. 8.

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are corresponding transverse sectional views taken on the planes respectively represented by the dotted lines 5-5, e e, 7-7, and 88.

Fig. 9 is a detail longitudinal section of the coin seat represented by the registering openings in the operating shaft and operated sleeve.

Fig. 10 is a detail view of the trip actuated clutch pin.

The casing 10 ofthe apparatus obviously may be of any desired or preferred form or dimensions suited to the size of the envelops which are to be dispensed, the latter preferably being arranged flatwise and transversely therein as indicated in Fig. 5 with the cover or closing flaps thereof disposed respectively under the bodies of the envelops and directed toward the front of the casing which is provided in the construction illustrated with a transparent panel 11 so that the stock or supply in the magazine may be seen by the vendee. When two or more envelops are to be vended simultaneously as when two stamped envelops are to be sold for five cents and the machine is adjusted or adapted for operation by a nickel, the flaps of two envelops should be interlocked so that the engagement of the downwardly projecting flaps of the group as by a follower plate 12 movin in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5 will result in carrying the two interlocked envelops forward from the normal position thereof indicated at 13 into the discharge chute 14- for deposit upon the rest 15 within convenient reach of the ven'dee. The magazine may be charged through a front door or closure 16 carrying said transparent panel 11 or in any other convenient or preferred way, and a weight 17 may be arranged upon the uppermost envelop in the stop located in the magazine to insure the proper downward feeding thereof so as to successively bring the lowermost envelops into position for engagement by the follower 12.

Said follower in the construction illustrated is carried by a swinging arm 18 ful crumed upon a shaft 19 which extends throughout the length of the casing and is provided exteriorly thereof at one end with an operating crank or handle 20, said follower arm also being provided with a hub 21 carrying a pin 22 for engagement by a shoulder 23 on a disk 2a also revolubly mounted upon said shaft, the hub 21 with its pin 22 and the disk 24: with its shoulder 23 constituting the members of a clutch whereby motion may be communicated from one to the other as will be understood in the following description of the operation of the device.

Fitted upon the shaft 19is a sleeve 25 which carries the disk 2% and also a cam 26 in contact with the face of which is a holding spring 27 serving to maintain the clutch member 24 and the sleeve in an adjusted position indicated in Fig. 5 but permitting the progressive intermittent rotation of the sleeve and cam to operate the disk 24: 111 order that motion may be communicated from the latter to the hub 21 of the follower arm 18 when it is desired to actuate said follower to project an envelop or group of envelops through the discharge chute 14,

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

and motion may be communicated from the operating shaft 19 to said sleeve 25 by key ing the latter to the former by the lntroduction of a suitable coin into the coin slot 28 which thence passes through the coin chute 29 and finds lodgment in a coin seat consisting of normally registering slots 30 and 31 formed respectively in said shaft 19 and sleeve 25 as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 9. When a coin is thus seated and the sleeve 25 is thereby keyed to the operating shaft 19, the turning of the latter by means of the exposed handle 20 will cause the repression of the spring 27 by the cam 19, and the shoulder of the disk 2& will come into contact with the pin 22 of the hub 21 and swing ing movement thus imparted to the followe plate 12 will cause its front edge to engage in the flap or flaps of the foremost layer of en velops to carry the latter into the discharge chute.

The follower plate is yieldingly held in its repressed or contracted position indicated in Fig. 5 by'mea-ns of a spring 32 secured at one end as shown at 33 to the casing and at the other end to an extension 34 of the hub 21, while the shaft 19 is correspondingly and yieldingly held in its normal position by means of a spring 35 terminally attached as at 36 to the casing'and secured as at 87 to the shaft.

After the operation of the follower plate to discharge an envelop or group of envelops the coin seat being thereby reversed in position, the coin drops and thus breaks the connection between the sleeve 25 and the shaft so that the former is held in a fixed position by the action of the spring 27 on the cam 26 while the shaft 19 upon the release of the handle 20 is returned by' its spring to realine the slots forming the coin seat in readiness for the reception of another coin;

A relatively small compartment 38 in which the coin chute is located constitutes a coin receptacle preferably fitted with a door or closure 39 having a suitable lock mechanism l0 to permit of the removal of r the coins at suitable intervals.

velops indicated at 13 into the path of the w front edge of said follower plate so as to insure an engagement of said plate with the flaps as the former is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5, and in order that envelops may not be removed from the apparatus surreptitiously as by inserting a wire or similar instrument through the discharge chute 14 a gate 11 is mounted to slide upon the inner surface of the front wall of the casing and is connected by a link 42 with the disk 2% forming the operating member of the clutch'which serves to communicate motion from the sleeve 25 to the follower arm, to the end that as said disk is moved in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 6 the gate is moved downward to expose the discharge chute 14 whereas normally said chute is closed by the gate to prevent the introduction of an instrument such as mentioned or the removal of any of the contents of the magazine otherwise than by the proper manipulation of the mecha-v nism as hereinbefore explained.

In'ordcr that there may be an automatic castoif or release of the spring returned follower 12 when it has completed its forward or envelop expelling movement it is desirable to provide a trip mechanism for disengaging the elements of the clutch represented in the illustrated embodiment of the invention by the member at having the shoulder 23 of which it is preferable to provide said member with duplicates arranged at diametrically opposite points of the circumferencev of the member, and the pin 22 which is adapted for engagement by either of said shoulders, and to this end the said pin is yieldingly mounted for movement in a path radial as to the hub 21 and hence as to the shaft or the axis of movement of the clutch members, the same being point of the shoulder 28 which has by engagement therewith caused the transmission of rotary motion from the member 2 1 to the hub 21. performs the function of a trip and as soon as the pin 22 is disengaged from the shoulder 23 the follower plate is released andis re turned by the spring 32 to its normal or retractedposition. On the other hand the dis engagement of the pin from the shoulder 23 also releases the member 24: carried by the sleeve 25 and permits it to be affected by the action of the spring 27 upon the cam 26 which throws the latter into the adjusted position indicated in Fig. 5 and in so doing serves to jar the coin and loosen its bearing in the seat formed by the registering openings in the sleeve and operating shaft, to the end that the discharge or disengagement of said coin from the seat is insured. As

Obviously the said cam thus 1 soon as the handle 20 is released the shaft returns to its normal position by reason of the action of the spring and when another coin has been inserted in the seat 30 to form a key between the same and the sleeve 25, a forward rotary movement of the shaft in opposition to the tension of the spring 35 will serve to carry the clutch member 24: in a corresponding direction with the other of the two shoulders 23 in engagement with the clutch pin 22 which by the return movement of the follower has been brought back to its original position indicated in Fig. 6.

What I claim is:

1. An envelop vending machine having a follower plate for successively advancing envelops to a discharge outlet, an operating shaft, a clutch having one of its members revolubly mounted upon said shaft and carrying the follower plate, said follower plate being yieldingly held in its normal position, a sleeve mounted upon the operating shaft and carrying the other of said clutch members, a cam carried by said sleeve and engaged by a pressure spring for holding the sleeve in its normal position, and coin controlled means for keying said sleeve to the operating shaft.

2. An envelop vending machine having a follower plate for successively advancing envelops to a discharge outlet, an operating shaft, a sleeve carried by the operating shaft, means for operatively connecting the said shaft and sleeve, a spring-pressed cam carried by the sleeve for yieldingly holding the latter in its normal position, a return spring for said operating shaft, and a clutch having a spring-returned member mounted upon the shaft and carrying said follower plate, and a second member carried by said sleeve.

3. An envelop vending machine having a follower for successively advancing envelope to a discharge outlet, an operating shaft, a clutch having one of its members mounted upon said shaft and carrying the follower, said clutch member being yieldingly held in its normal position, a sleeve mounted upon said shaft and carrying the other of said clutch members, a trip for disengaging the clutch members at the limit of the envelop expelling movement of the follower, and coin-controlled means for keying said sleeve to the operating shaft.

4;. An envelop vending machine having a follower for successively advancing envelops to a discharge outlet, a clutch having one of its members revolubly mounted upon said shaft and carrying the follower, said follower being yieldingly held in its normal position, a sleeve mounted upon the operating shaft and carrying the other of said clutch members, one of the clutch members being provided with a yielding pin for engagement by the other clutch member, a cam arranged in the path of said pin for tripping the latter at the limit of the envclop expelling movement of the follower, and coin-controlled means for keying said sleeve to the operating shaft.

5. An envelop vending machine having a spring returned follower for successively advancing envelops to a discharge outlet, an operating shaft, a clutch having one of its members revolubly mounted upon said shaft and carrying the follower, a sleeve mounted upon said shaft and carrying the other of said clutch members, one of the clutch members having a shoulder and the other having a radially yielding pin for engagement by the shoulder, a trip for disengaging the pin of one clutch member from the shoulder of the other clutch member at the limit of the envelop expelling movement of the follower, a cam carried by said sleeve and engaged by a pressure spring for yieldingly holding the sleeve in its adjusted positions, and coin-controlled means for keying the sleeve to the operating shaft.

6. An envelop vending machine having an envelop discharging element, an operating shaft, a sleeve mounted on the operating shaft, a clutch connection between the sleeve and the discharging element, a cam carried by said sleeve and engaged by a pressure spring for holding the sleeve in its normal position, and means for effecting an operative connection between said sleeve and the operating shaft.

7. An envelop vending machine having an envelop ejecting element for successively advancing envelops to a discharge outlet, an operating shaft, a sleeve in surrounding relation to and carried by the operating shaft, means for effecting an operative releasable connection between the sleeve and the operating shaft, a spring pressed cam carried by the sleeve for yieldingly holding the latter in its normal position, a return spring for the operating shaft, and a clutch connection between the ejecting element and the sleeve.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES V3 KEENUM. 

